The Companion

~Kylie’s POV~

“All done, no questions asked. So what’s happening?” I said, bounding into the TARDIS, rather enthusiastically due to the fact that we had a brainwave to follow. The idea that we could finally put an end to this fiasco was, admittedly, exciting.

“Off to the ice cream shop for a bit of a poke around, something should come to me… hopefully,” said the Doctor as he fiddled a bit at the console, concentration face set.

I noticed Harry sat on the chair near the Doctor, legs slightly apart, leaning his elbows on his knees with his head bowed. I slowly made my way over to him, knowing that a careful approach was best at this time.

“Babe?” I said, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me with an apparent sadness in his eyes but also confusion. I hadn’t seen him in such a state but I could most certainly understand what was most likely going through his mind right now. To lose someone you couldn’t even remember but who you knew was extremely close to you was… was there even a word for it?

“I don’t know what to think?” he whispered in an attempt to let our conversation go unnoticed by the Doctor. He began to fiddle with his fingers, which was a sign that his nerves were mounting. I knew that, like me, more than anything he wanted this over and done with but he didn’t know what would happen once it was over. I was thinking the exact same thing. Would we remember as soon as we saw them… if we saw them? Would it be a gradual process like recovering from a car crash?

I bent down beside him and moving my hand to his back, tried to give him some sort of comfort.

“I understand, Harry, I really do. Its… confusing, very confusing… but there is hope, there’s always hope. The Doctor has a plan and from what we know he’s a brilliant man in this field. We have to trust him,” I said, rubbing small circles on Harry’s lower back.

“Thank you, Kylie. I wouldn’t say any less,” the Doctor said from where he stood at the console, a smirk on his face. I guessed what he was referring to.

“Really not the right moment, Doctor,” I said, giving a small shake of the head and despite the current mood I chuckled.

”What? I said thank you,” he said, sounding much like a small child.

“You are so smug, you know that right?” I said to him as he made his way slowly over to Harry and I.

“Kylie’s, right Harry. There is always hope. Trust me… I’m the Doctor,” he said. This made Harry chuckle a bit.

“There we go. Ready to put an end to this?” I said, patting his knee and giving him a reassuring smile. He nodded and with that the Doctor raced back over to the console and put us in flight with a few flicks and turns. As the floor beneath us shuddered, I held Harry’s hand tightly. As I was in danger of toppling over sideways, he pulled me up onto his lap and placed his arms around my waist and a few moments later the shuddering came to a halt. Harry and I stood up and hand in hand we followed the Doctor out of the TARDIS to find ourselves in the rear car park of the ice cream shop once again.

“Only way I can make a connection is to give this one a look, hope you don’t mind,” said the Doctor as he strolled up to the door.

“Anything to put this back in order,” said Harry quietly.

With as much ease as previously, the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to unlock the door and let us inside. Stepping into the back room, however, I couldn’t help but notice that the temperature was rather icy.

“It’s a bit cold, don’t you think?” I said.

“It’s an ice cream shop,” said the Doctor, stating the obvious.

“Surely it hasn’t been this cold when you’ve been on shift? I mean, it is summer,” I said.

“Well, no,” he replied as he walked over to the store cupboard and proceeded to pull it back from the wall.

“Here, love, you can use my jacket,” said Harry quietly, going to take it off.

“Hey, its ok. I’ll be fine,” I said, putting a hand on his shoulder so he couldn’t take his jacket off any further.

“You sure?”

“I’m sure,” I said, giving him a reassuring smile.

The both of us turned to watch as the Doctor succeeded in pulling the cupboard out from the wall. As soon as the crack was exposed, however, a slight breeze fluttered over my cheeks and I shivered.

“Can you feel that?” I asked Harry.

“Yeah… are you sure you don’t want my jacket?”

“Its all right. I’m tough, you know me.”

“I guess you’re right, Kylie. It isn’t the most natural of chills,” said the Doctor over by the cupboard. He rubbed his hands together before fishing into his pocket for the sonic. The tell tale buzz followed as he gave the crack a look over. While the Doctor was doing his inspection, Harry and I moved closer and as we did, the quiet whispering I assumed was the breeze, grew louder.

“You all right, Kylie?” Harry asked for I hadn’t noticed that my body tensed up as I realised what I was hearing.

“What? Oh yes… yes I’m fine,” I said, giving my head a little shake in an attempt to clear it.

“Can you hear it too?”

“Hear what?”

“The whispering?”

“I… yes,” I said as Harry placed an arm around my shoulders.

“Hmm… I can hear something… too faint to make out but definitely a voice… or voices,” said the Doctor.

“Do you think its Marie and…” I began but realised I didn’t know who else was taken.

“I believe his name started with an ‘N’,” said the Doctor. “And I think it is but we need to go to the studio.”

The Doctor began to push the cupboard back into place and did look like he was struggling with the weight so Harry and I went to help and… well as they say, many hands make light work.

We walked back out to the car park, making sure to lock the door behind us. As I walked, my legs shook slightly, so I had to slow down my pace.

“You all right, babe?” Harry asked.

“I… yeah, I think so. Its just… shock after shock. It’s so unnatural, I’m not used to it. I thought I was but…” I said.

“Its difficult to wrap your head around, isn’t it?” said Harry.

“Yeah, I… well, never did I think we’d be fighting a force like this.”

“You’ve got that right,” said Harry, placing an arm around my shoulders to stop them from shaking.

Before long we were back in the TARDIS with another destination and the hope that a resolution would soon be in sight.

Notes